Saturday’s magnificent concert by the Oxford Philomusica, in the glorious setting of Christ Church Cathedral, marked both the end of the orchestra’s summer baroque series and the opening of its annual International Piano Festival. Most importantly, though, it was a celebration of the 2012 London Olympics, and this uplifting selection of music for trumpets and organ made for a thrilling and stirring evening.

It’s always good to see the spotlight being shone on some of the Philomusica’s wonderful soloists, and here the three trumpeters — Joe Atkins, Tim Hawes and Tom Rainer — did themselves proud, with some solid accompaniment from organist David Ponsford.

The programme paid tribute to the emergence of the Trumpet Consort in the 16th century, delving with obvious relish into the rich repertoire of baroque consort music for trumpets and organ. The work of well-known composers such as Purcell, Handel, J.S. Bach and C.P.E. Bach rubbed shoulders with music by some of their lesser-known contemporaries.

Among the less familiar pieces was Jean-Baptiste Lully’s delightful Music for Carousel with its wonderful dance movements, including a minuet, gavotte and gigue, all played by the three soloists with appropriate joyfulness and lightness of touch. Also of interest were the Three Voluntaries by John Stanley, whose often overlooked catalogue of achievements included being the youngest (at the age of 17) to gain a degree in music at Oxford University. There are local links, too, in Handel’s Water Music — not only was it written for a Royal journey up the Thames in 1717, it is believed that at least part of it was written in Abingdon. Whatever the truth, it was delivered here with virtuosic excellence by the three trumpeters. Opening and closing the concert were a couple of modern pieces — Benjamin Britten’s Fanfare for St Edmundsbury and, particularly appropriately, John Williams’s Olympic Fanfare, written originally for the 1984 Games, and here bringing the evening to a suitably triumphant finale.